1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a fuse box connector assembly for interconnecting conductors electrical power, to conductors leading to various electrical devices via an electrical fuse, in particular for automotive applications.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In an automobile, it is common to provide a fuse box comprising most of the electrical fuses of the electrical circuitry thereof, such that it is easy to inspect at a glance any blown fuses, as well as facilitating the replacement thereof. FIG. 1 shows the electrical schema of an automobile fuse box, whereby the fuses are indicated by F and are positioned between a power supply line P1, P2 or P3 and output lines L1, L2 or L3. The electrical current supplied through lines P1, P2 and P3 is usually supplied through a relay box, whereby, for example, P1 is a direct line to the positive terminal of the battery, P2 is a power supply only activated after the first turn of the ignition key and P3 is the electrical power supply only once the ignition key is fully turned. The various power supplies ensure that those components that are only supplied with electrical power when the ignition is on, will only receive power through the lines P2 or P3, and those electronic components such as the alarm system or door lights, parking lights, clock etc. will receive power even when the ignition is off by being supplied with the P1 line. The electrical devices being fed by the fuse box, which therefore also acts as a distribution point therefor, are positioned in various zones of the car such as the cockpit, the chassis and the engine compartment. As shown in FIG. 1, a device line Z1 illustrated as a circle indicates a line from the fuse output line L1, L2 or L3 to the cockpit zone, the diamond shape Z2 indicates a line to the engine compartment zone and the fully shaded rectangle Z3 indicates a line to the chassis zone. The unshaded rectangles Z4 are lines not being used but reserved for future applications.
It is usual to group electrical conducting wires into harnesses that are supplied by a harness maker to the automobile manufacturer. The harnesses commonly comprise terminals or connectors at one end for connection to various electrical devices, and terminals at the other end for connection to the fuse box. A harness usually groups wires connected to devices in a same zone of the vehicle in order to make assembly to the vehicle practicable.
In order to economize production and maintenance costs, some of the output lines L1, L2 or L3 are connected to a plurality of electrical devices (and therefore a plurality of device lines Z1, Z2 or Z3), and therefore connected through a single fuse F to one of the power supply lines P1, P2 or P3. The letter T in FIG. 1 indicates the terminal connecting the line L1, L2 or L3 to the fuse F.
Conventional fuse boxes are complicated, expensive to manufacture, bulky, prone to error during the wiring and are difficult to assemble as they usually comprise device lines which comprise conducting wires crimped to terminals, that need to be individually connected to the output lines L1, L2 or L3 at the fuse box. Additionally, output lines leading to different zones of the car Z1, Z2 and Z3 could be all connected to the same fuse as shown by the lines L2 in the dotted boxed area B1 of FIG. 1, these device lines having terminals that are individually connected to the common fuse line L2 only once they have been assembled to the vehicle. The terminals are handled and connected separately, which is not only time consuming, but could easily lead to erroneous connections.
It would be desirable, therefore, to group terminals wherever possible in connector housings such that the number of parts to be coupled during assembly of the vehicle is reduced. Additionally, provision of a connector housing would protect the terminals of harnesses during transport and assembly in the vehicle, as well as allowing the integration of keying means thereon to avoid erroneous connections.